A new study presented at the 15th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Singapore earlier this month reported that more than 75% of fourth graders in urban and rural settings have measurable levels of a nicotine product in their saliva that documented their exposure to secondhand smoke. Additional demographics in the sample of 428 fourth graders and 453 parents in seven rural and seven urban Georgia schools showed that urban children had the most exposure to smoke-79.6% compared to 75.3% in rural, and also found that 14.9% of the fourth graders in urban schools smoked compared to 6.6% in rural schools. Other demographics included children in rural areas more likely to be white and living with both parents compared to poorer families, child living with one parent, receiving health care at community health clinics, and having a parent who smoked in urban areas. The researchers stressed the need for education programs to reduce smoking around young children because of the health problems related to secondhand smoking.
Archive for March, 2012
Are Most Children Exposed to Secondhand Smoke?
Friday, March 30th, 2012More Evidence that Second-Hand Smoke Cause Cancer.
Wednesday, March 28th, 2012
A new study published online in the American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cancer and Molecular Physiology concluded that a key protein involved in cell function and regulation is stopped by a substance in cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 components, many of which are linked to the development and progression of lung cancer and may cause other forms of cancer in adults. It is also known that secondary smoke may be as dangerous as primary smoke.
In the current study researchers found a cancer-causing agent called reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the gaseous phase of cigarette smoke that can inhibit normal cell function. Second- hand exposure to as little as 2 cigarettes was found to almost completely stop the function of the cells sodium pump within a few hours and in normal cells this pump plays an important role in transporting potassium into the cell and sodium out of the cell. The inability of the sodium pump to regulate sodium is predictive of cell damage, disease progression and ultimate, survival. The researchers said “We now know that one need not inhale the particulate matter present in secondhand smoke to suffer the consequences of smoking. Exposure to the gaseous substance alone, which you breathe while standing near a smoker is sufficient to cause harm. “
Weight Loss and Nutrition Experts on the Holistic Health Show Next Saturday
Sunday, March 25th, 2012
On the next show Larry McCleary, M.D., Catherine Jen, PhD, and Alyson Mead will be interviewed on nutrition and weight loss. Larry McCleary, M.D., (left) is the retired Acting Chief of Neurosurgery at Denver Children’s Hospital. His scientific publications span the fields of metabolic medicine, tumor immunology, biotechnology and neurological disease. He has lectured to audiences around the world. Dr. McCleary is the author of Feed Your Brain Lose Your Belly, and The Brain Trust Program: A Scientifically Based Three Part Plan to Improve Memory Elevate Mood, Enhance Attention, Alleviate Migraine and Menopausal Symptoms and Boost Mental Energy, and he co-authored the two volume Bald Is Beautiful: A Guide to Surviving Childhood Cancer. He is also the host of Brain Body Breakthroughs, a weekly internet radio show in which he interviews doctors and other cutting edge experts on health, nutrition, exercise, and wellness. His current research interests involve the investigation of unique nutritional and metabolic approaches designed to beneficially impact optimal health, especially for those over 45. His special areas of expertise involve the neurological system and metabolic medicine. He has been awarded patents for his unique clinically tested supplement combinations that are available through Natural Health Pathways, a company he co-founded. Dr. McCleary earned a B.A. in Physics at Dartmouth College where he was a Rufus Choate Scholar. He completed Ph.D. coursework at Boston University Graduate School of Physics and later received his M.D. from the State University of New York School of Medicine in Buffalo. Dr. McCleary’s postgraduate professional training was obtained through a surgical internship at the University of Minnesota and neurosurgery residency at New York University-Bellevue Medical Center. He serves as the volunteer Medical Director of the Shining Stars Foundation, a non-profit that provides outreach activities for children with cancer and other life threatening diseases. More information is available at: http://www.drmccleary.com
My second guest is Kai-Lin Catherine Jen, PhD,(middle) who is Professor and Chair of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science at Wayne State University and currently has a grant for over 5 million dollars to study “Intervention Procedures for Adherence to Weight Loss Recommendations in Black Adolescents.” She has 104 publications, 31 patents and has applied for several others. She is a reviewer for 12 journals including Physiology and Behavior, International Journal of Obesity, Obesity Research, Nutritional Research, and the Brain Research Bulletin. Dr Jen has held positions on several professional boards including the Chinese Association for the Study of Obesity, North American Association for the Study of Obesity, and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Cancer Survivorship. She has also been interviewed for many media events such as on FoxTV, Channel 2, Detroit: Detroit News; Raleigh News and Observer; Canadian Obesity Network; WWJ AM 950; WGPR FM 107.5; WCHB AM 1200; WZAX 99.3 FM; KNXV Channel 15; WILS 1320 AM; and others. Dr Jen can be reached at: ac1578@wayne.edu
My third guest is Alyson Mead whose fiction, essays and articles have appeared in over thirty publications, including Salon, In These Times, BUST, Whole Life Times, AOL’s That’s Fit!, the Clackamas Literary Review, and the New York Daily News, among others. She has received the Columbine Award for Screenwriting, the Roy W. Dean Filmmaking Grant, and awards from Writer’s Digest and USA Book News. She is also the bestselling author of Wake Up to Your Stories and Wake Up to Your Weight Loss, and has toured across the country teaching meditation and giving workshops on a variety of healing topics, including the development of a personal narrative practice. Her new book, Searching for Sassy: An L.A. Phone Psychic’s Tales of Life, Lust & Love, comes out on April 24th, 2012. Psychic since childhood, Mead has been reading people since the age of 19, and has since honed her abilities with certifications at the highest levels in astrology, Reiki, Matrix Energetics, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, and sound healing. She provides humorous and forthright readings and intuitive healing sessions as the Sassy Psychic (http://www.sassypsychic.com), serving celebrities and people from all walks of life.
is the Consumption of Red Meat Linked to Cancer Mortality.
Friday, March 23rd, 2012
A new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of total, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality and that substituting other healthy protein sources, such as fish, poultry, nuts, and legumes , was associated with a lower risk of mortality. The researchers say “Our study adds more evidence to the health risk of eating high amounts of red meat, which has been associated with type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers in other studies.”
Researchers prospectively followed 37,698 men from the Health Professions Follow-up Study for 22 years and 83,544 women in the Nurses’ Health Study for up to 28 years who were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. Every four years the diets of subjects were assessed. Over the study period there were 23,926 deaths in the two groups of which 5,910 were from cardiovascular disease and 9,464 from cancer. Regular consumption of red meat, particularly processed red meat, was associated with increased mortality risk. A daily serving of unprocessed red meat of about the size of a deck of cards was associated with a 13 percent increase risk of mortality and a daily serving of processed red meat consisting of a hot dog or two slices of bacon was associated with a 20 percent increased risk. The corresponding risk for cancer mortality was 10% and 16 percent even after adjusting for risk factors such as age, body mass index, physical activity, and family history of major cancers.
Replacing a serving of red meat with one serving of a healthy protein source was associated with a lower mortality risk as follows: 7% for fish, 14% for poultry, 19% for nuts, 10% for legumes, 10% for low-fat dairy products, and 14% for who9le grains. Researchers estimated that 9.3 % of the deaths in men and 7.6 % of the deaths in women could have been prevented if all subjects had consumed less than 0.5 servings per day of red meat.
Is there a Link between Cadmium in Food and Breat Cancer?
Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
A new study published in Cancer Research concluded that dietary cadmium may lead to an increase risk of breast cancer. Cadmium, a toxic metal, occurs at low concentrations in plants because of contamination of farmlands primarily due to atmospheric deposits and the use of fertilizers. The main sources of cadmium are found in bread, cereals, potatoes, other root crops and vegetables., foods, that otherwise, are considered healthy.
In this study, the researchers observed 55,987 women for more than 12 years and estimated their dietary cadmium exposure using a food frequency questionnaire. Two thousand one hundred twelve incidents of breast cancer was observed in the group that included 1,626 estrogen receptor-positive and 290 estrogen receptor negative cases. Cadmium consumption was divided into 3 groups with the highest compared to the lowest level of exposure. Overall, a higher exposure to cadmium was linked with a 21 percent increase in breast cancer and among lean and normal weight women the increase was 27 percent. Both the estrogen receptor-positive and negative tumors had the same risk increase at about 23 percent and those eating a higher amount of whole grain and vegetables had a lower risk of breast cancer than those eating other foods. The researcher said “it is possible that this healthy diet to some extent can counteract the negative effect of cadimium, but our findings need to be confirmed with further studies.”
Dr Mark Davis, Jackie Keller, and Marina Kamen talk about Weight Loss and Nutrition.
Sunday, March 18th, 2012
Guest of Dr Carl O Helvie, Host, Holistic Health Show, on Saturday were Dr Mark Davis, Jackie Keller, and Marina Kamen.
Mark Davis, M. D. is President of a research firm called Healthnets Review Services and author of the Millenium Diet: The Practical Guide to Rapid Weight Loss and of Demons of Democracy. More information was presented earlier on this blog or can be found at: http://www.markdavismd.com
Jackie Keller is Founding Director and Executive Chef of Los Angeles’ premier health food company, Nutrifit and author of Body After Baby: The 30 Day Plan to Lose Your Baby Weight. Jackie works with numerous clients including Angelina Jolie, Reese Witherspoon, Uma Thurman, Charlize Therman, Penelopie Cruz, Susan Sarandon, Will Farrell, Channing Tatum and others. More information was presented earlier on this blog or can be found at: http://www.nutrifitonline.com
Marina Kamen has lost 100 pounds and is the winner of the Peoples Choice Award for her catalog of over 1,200 Musical Fitness audio and video Workout Programs, 400 Original songs and 50 albums online for download available at: http://www.HighEnergyfitness.com Marina is also a certified fitness trainer, casting director, choreographer, billboard charting writer/producer, violinist, and vocalist. She has worked with celebrities such as Faye Dunaway, Madeline Kahn, Lauren Hutton, Liza Barbara Felton, Liza Minnelli, James Earl Jones, Patti LaBelle and Carnie Wilson. More information was presented earlier on this site or can be found at the above website.
Can a Hybrid Aspirin Daily Prevent Cancer?
Friday, March 16th, 2012
A new research study published in the journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters and another to appear in journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communication that is now available online concluded that scientists have developed a hybrid aspirin that is safer than the old aspirin and curbs the growth of 11 different types of human cancer cells in culture without harming normal cells. Cancers controlled included colon, pancreatic, lung, prostate, breast, and leukemia. In the other study the compound shrank human colon cancer tumors by 85 percent in live animals without adverse effects. The researchers said “the key component of the new compound are that they are very, very potent and yet it has minimal toxicity to the cells. ”
The problem with regular aspirin has been that prolonged use causes side effects ranging from bleeding ulcers to kidney failure. Building on regular aspirins researchers have added two molecules that have been shown to increase the drugs safety and called the compound NOSH-aspirin. One arm of the hybrid aspirin releases nitric oxide that helps protect the stomach lining and the other releases hydrogen sulfide that enhances its cancer fighting properties. The aspirin is more potent and 24 hours after treating a culture of cancer cells the NOSH aspirin demonstrated 100,000 times greater potency than aspirin alone. At 72 hours it was about 250,000 times greater in potency in in-vitro cell cultures against human colon cancer. The researchers say this means a lower dose would be required to be effective and would minimize or eliminate side effects. In the second study, NOSH aspirin was given to mice bearing human colon cancer tumors and the compound caused the cancer cells to self destruct, inhibited proliferation of the cells, and reduced tumor growth without signs of toxicity in the mice. Further testing of toxicity and clinical trials are planned as a next step.
Can Stopping Hormone Therapy Help Regression of Breast Cancer
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
A new report e-published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention concluded that as women stop hormone therapy, their rates of new breast cancer decreased.
The researchers studied 741,681 woman-years of data with a minimum of 3.3 years per woman from 163,490 women aged 50 to 79 who had no prior history of breast cancer. The study prospectively looked at the use of screening mammography among individual women by their hormone status linked to their breast cancer diagnosis according to the researchers.
Previous research had shown a decline in new breast cancer cases and the use of hormone therapy and screening by mammography since the 2002 publication of a study on the relationship of breast cancer rates and the use of estrogen and progestin. Some believed the decline seen in breast cancer rates was a result of the decrease in use of hormone therapy. Others believed the decline in breast cancer rates and hormone use may have been a result of a decrease in the use of mammography screening by former hormone users. The current researchers set out to test these ideas and found that before 2002 former users of hormone therapy had lower rates of mammography screening than did current users but this is no longer true. Instead, former users had the same or slightly higher screening rates than current users. They concluded “the differences in rates of screening mammography don’t explain the declines in rates of the incidence of invasive breast cancer among women who stopped using hormone therapy. “
Guests Speak on Weight Loss and Nutrition for the Stars on Holistic Health Show
Sunday, March 11th, 2012
My third guest is Marina Kamen aka MARINA who has lost 100 pounds and is the winner of the People’s Choice Award for her catalog of over 1,200 Musical Fitness audio & video Workout Programs, 400 Original songs and 50 albums Online for Download available atwww.HighEnergyFitness.com Marina is also a 53 year old mother of 3, a Certified Fitness Trainer, Casting Director, Choreographer, Billboard Charting writer/producer/violinist & vocalist. Infomercial Television products call on Marina to actually find those people and transform them into those beautiful before & afters we see on TV. She gets them to lose weight, teach them about fashion & styling and transforms them into shape! Marina has worked closely with some of the country’s hottest photographers, makeup artists and designers. She has written hundreds of songs we hear everyday in our fitness classes and on runways for over 25 years charting in Billboard and charts around the world. Marina has pioneered the health & fitness industry as one of the original aerobic instructor at BodyDesign by Gildas in NYC 1979. Her roster of celebrity clients have included Faye Dunaway, Madeline Kahn, Lauren Hutton, Liza Barbara Feldon and countless others. Marina pioneered the Reality Television industry starting in 1999 appearing on PBS”-In The Mix”, Noggin’s “A Walk in Her Shoes” The Discovery Health Network “I Lost It” The Tyra Banks Show” in addition to having a Pilot shot of her in NYC back in 1999. She has co-owned Kamen Entertainment Group since 1987 together with her husband of 28 years, Roy Kamen, which has received 150 Television, Radio, Commercial, Music and Fitness production awards over the past 30 years. Marina’s music and voice has been heard on numerous commercials including Verizon, Poptarts, Exxon Mobile, Equinox and Tourneau. She has worked with a multitude of celebrity talent including Liza Minnelli, James Earl Jones, Patti LaBelle, and Carnie Wilson. Marina has also choreographed for companies including Columbia Records, BMG Records, and The Naras Foundation. Marina has been covered in Prevention Magazine, Woman’s World, Billboard and The New York Times. Marina’s charting music has been heard in health clubs, retail stores, runways and gyms around the world in addition to being used by various fitness clients including Jazzercise, Dynamix, Jackie Chan’s Cabel Flex. Marina’s latest projects have been The Firm Express Get Thin in 30/Gaiam, Jillian Michaels/Gaiam, Ab Shake/Ab Coaster/Tristar Productions, The Rack, Cardio Karate/Urban Group Exercise and Michael’s Olajide’s Aerobox for All Star/ Script to Screen.
Can Vitamin D Shrink Fibroid Tumors?
Friday, March 9th, 2012
A new study published online in the journal Biology of Reproduction concluded that treatment with vitamin D reduced the size of fibroids in laboratory rats predisposed to the benign tumor.
Vitamin D was tested on a strain of rats genetically predisposed to developing fibroids. Twelve rats with fibroids were divided into two groups. One group received vitamin D and the other did not. In the study group vitamin D was delivered continuously for three weeks through a small pump planted under the skin. The amount of vitamin D received each day was equivalent to a human dose of about 1,400 international units. This dose is more than the recommended dose for teens and adults age 70 and under of 600 units daily but under the dose of 4,000 units that is considered safe for children over age 9, adults, and for pregnant and breastfeeding women.
After three weeks both the study and control groups were studied. Fibroids in the untreated group (controls) increased in size whereas the fibroids in the study group given vitamin D had shrunk dramatically. The uterine fibroids of the treated group receiving vitamin D were on average, 75 percent smaller than in the control group. The researchers concluded “Additional research is needed to confirm vitamin D as a potential treatment for women with uterine fibroids.”
